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In Sports Commentary

By Steve Czaban Special to OnMilwaukee.com E-mail author | Author bio More articles by Steve Czaban

Published Sept. 11, 2008 at 5:17 a.m.

Tags: czaban, favre, rodgers, packers, ted thompson, mike mccarthy

Oh, what a night!
Hypnotizing, mesmerizing me.
She was everything I dreamed she'd be.
Sweet surrender, what a night!

I felt a rush like a rolling bolt of thunder
Spinnin' my head around and taking my body under.
Oh, what a night!

Oh, I. I got a funny feeling when she walked
In the room and I,
As I recall it ended much too soon.

Oh, what a night.
Why'd it take so long to see the light?
Seemed so wrong, but now it seems so right.
What a lady, what a night!

"Oh What A Night" -- Frankie Valli

Could there have been a better opening script to the Aaron Rodgers era in Green Bay? Can we start calling it an "era" already? How long does a Packers fan have to wait to claim vindication?

Screw it. I'm declaring victory right now for the Packers organization. It is certainly possible that Aaron Rodgers will produce poor stretches of play this season and beyond. It is also possible he'll get hurt again and prove to be a porcelain doll compared to Brett Favre.

But, the kid can play. That debate is over. His performance in a 24-19 defeat of Minnesota was a victory for the concept of having a plan and sticking to it.

The three most relieved men in the building on Monday night -- behind Rodgers himself, of course -- were Ted Thompson, Mark Murphy and Mike McCarthy.

To have Rodgers show so well, to win the game, and to do it all knowing that Favre was safely tucked away in another conference was like hitting a straight flush.

Imagine the nerve it took to take the stance they did: "We love you Brett, but we've moved on." Admire, too, the perfect public relations touch and steady hand they showed in walking the game to a rather neat conclusion.

In short, this is how a good football organization rolls. To have this front office in Green Bay right now, without the overbearing presence of a single, mega-millionaire owner is a blessing for which most of you Packers fans have no real appreciation.

Ask any fan of the Raiders, Redskins, Cardinals or Bengals how it feels to watch ineptitude in slow motion on an annualized basis.

In fact, just rewind your TiVo to the point in the game where cameras caught Zygi Wilf, owner of the rival Vikings sitting oddly alone in what looked like a penalty box of a "luxury suite." There he was, looking like a patient cuckoo clock salesman from Copenhagen waiting for an appointment.

Would that guy inspire confidence in you as a fan? Sure, he just spent scads of money on a defensive end with a drinking problem, and a wide receiver that proved to be a one trick pony in Chicago. But is anybody worried about the impending "Vikings Era" in the NFC North? With Elmo's "Mr. Noodle" look-alike on the sideline and a crazy-legs, Mike Vick wanna-be under center?

Please.

The Packers managed Favre's unseemly quarterback sneak out of town better than they'll ever be given credit for. The full picture has yet to be revealed, but much of it is now coming into focus.

Favre clearly wanted to play; he just didn't want to have to come back to Green Bay to do it. Favre clearly wanted to stay in the Division, but he let his own ego override that desire once it was clear Thompson and Co. simply wouldn't allow it.

Watch Favre closely now in New York. He doesn't look like a man thrilled with a final chance at glory. He still looks angry and condescending about how it all played out. I think he STILL can't believe the Packers "did this" to him.

Somebody call me when you actually see him during an interview looking genuinely happy.

He's been busy pre-loading excuses into the media hopper, stating explicitly how hard it is to learn the Mangini system. He didn't even wait a week to start drawing his favorite plays in the dirt, reportedly telling the Jets offense on several occasions last week to "run the same thing."

Nice. Way to put your full effort into this thing, Brett.

He even says the right things -- "I'm honored to be named captain of this team" - while doing the exact opposite - like violating dress code by wearing jeans and a t-shirt on the team plane.

This night, however, belonged to quiet, steady, football competence. The Packers brain trust believed in Aaron Rodgers with 100 percent of their professional acumen. They allowed their plan to unwind on their terms and schedule, not anybody else's.

The result was plain, obvious, and joyful to watch.

And yes, let's get to the unpleasant part of this column. I was one of the chattering idiots in the media who said that Thompson and McCarthy needed to eat some humble pie and bring The Diva back with open arms.

I'm an idiot. They know how to run their football team.

Somebody, please hand me that cream pie.

9 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review.

Recent Talkbacks ...

Posted by Vince on Sept. 14, 2008 at 6:22 p.m. (report)

Brett who?

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Posted by twotikes on Sept. 12, 2008 at 3:38 p.m. (report)

Agreed. Not only the most important personnel decision in team history, but arguably with the greatest Packer of all time (3 MVPs people). Continuing to pile on - the route they took not only was disingenous to Favre, but put the most pressure on Aaron Rodgers possible (the stalling required Favre to show up at camp to force their hand thereby creating a circus). On top of that, they didn't get maximum trade value for Favre because they refused to trade him in the division (in part so they were not embarrased by him as they would have been had he been in a Viking uniform Monday night). But my favorite had to be when, hours after trading Favre, they admitted they really didn't think he was serious about coming back until he arrived in Green Bay. In other words they spent over a month just wishing this would go away, or that they could buy him off (remember Murphy's trip to Mississippi) without any contingency plan. Then they enter a regular season with 3 quarterback with 0 NFL starts and a combined 4 years of experience. As it stands they have a rookie seventh round draft pick in the back up role. Yet people in Wisconsin still cheer for and support Ted Thompson in light of how this played out. If Rodgers gets injured or plays poorly - this whole thing comes crashing down badly for Mr. Thompson.

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Posted by nmollgaard on Sept. 12, 2008 at 11:22 a.m. (report)

Twotikes You're also correct, but more important, sticking to the facts. Cell phone innuendo, attempted bribery, secret meetings and phone conference calls while the president's telling the public nothing's going on. Disingenous statements about 'welcoming him back', while planning in a room somewhere how to end this and save face, then having their bluff called, and making up some last-minute injury and putting him on PUP list so they can talk him (and themselves) out of it. These were just some of the things we witnessed and I give Czabe the benefit of the doubt as an outsider looking in, but if he's going to publish an article on a local site, he should know some of this, it seems to me. Maybe Rodgers is a good marriage for 10 years, but the divorce was uncalled for, and it was the Packers' biggest personnel decision in, perhaps, their history. In purely football terms, for this team right now, then in the leadership/management department, they failed on it

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Posted by twotikes on Sept. 11, 2008 at 6:22 p.m. (report)

Wow, haven't seen anything this premature since I lost my virginity 18 years ago. Are you kidding me? I like Rodgers, but he is less than 8 weeks removed from a 7-20 performance on family night. Rodgers is a fine "new girlfriend", but to most of us Favre was the love of our life. To declare we're over him and have turned the page after the first date is ridiculous. P.S. I share many of the same thoughts about Packer management mishandling this situation. Favre's conduct was diva like, but managment was completely disingenous in trying to "protect Brett's legacy." The great irony is that had Minnesota had a quarterback (say Brett Favre) the Pack would have been on the losing end Monday night.

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Posted by nmollgaard on Sept. 11, 2008 at 3:06 p.m. (report)

Wwonka Your main thesis is fair, and I agree with it; however, it is incomplete and dismisses one thing: TT and co. did not stick by anything and Czabe misses this, too. So, I'm not surprised you agree with him. If you believe their line, and clearly you do, THEY said they welcomed him back, then changed THEIR minds, and said they wanted Rodgers. Even as late at July, they, according to them, were seriously talking with Favre about his return to, presumably, starter status. At the end, they sold it as, Rodgers has been the man all along. This is all undeniable, as it came from their mouths. On the record, they changed their minds once, for sure, and likely a second and third time. Yet Favre is the indecisive prima donna. As for your secondary remark about Favre, again I agree as to your premise, it just unfortunately doesn't apply to the facts. The difference is, he has, more than once and recently as Sunday, publicly said he changed his mind and that helped create some of the difficulty. He admits his part and doesn't back away from his right to change his mind, agree or disagree with it. The Packers never, to my knowledge, have, and this is part of the PR perception problem that they have suffered. The management of the situation, and accepting responsibility for it, was the difficult issue here and you're trying to boil THAT down to an oversimplification and laying the complicated issue at one man's feet. The "simple" choice reference I made was to their respective abilities once Favre did change his mind. That is cut and dried, for anybody who can see a first ballot HOF'er over 300 games is the choice over an unproven player without a start. You're a lost cause if you actually think one game decides that issue. If so, question: if Rodgers had a bad game, as Czabe admits is unavoidable this year, does that mean he stinks? Of course not. It was the back-and-forth, he-said stuff during the offseason that overcomplicated that initial simple decision. That won't change, and neither will the bad decision they made, even if Rodgers turns out to be a HOF'er himself. It's going to take long enough to get there that the special dynamics of THIS team will have long since disappeared

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